Even though Temari had continuously told herself that the handsome Itachi was quite probably dangerous; he plagued her dreams for the nights to come, and when she went to visit Gaara three days later, she couldn't help but be slightly disappointed when she didn't see him.

"How are you, honey?"

"Alright." Gaara mumbled softly "Still tired."

"Yeah…" Temari picked up his hand with her own "hang in there…"

"Why didn't Kankuro come?"

"Job interview. At my work of all places."

"Finally."

"I was just going to say that!"

They laughed.

Temari shifted in her chair, "So, Gaara, how's your friend?" she asked, 'Inconspicuously'

"Itachi? He's okay. Had a big argument with his little brother the day that he met you. Apparently he's really worried about him. Wants him to move in with a friend and get the hell away from their father…"

Temari blinked, "How did his brother react?"

"You met Sasuke back at my school. You know how he reacted." Gaara barked. Temari winced, though Gaara was a lot more stable these days, he could tend to get a bit snippy if there was something worrying him.

"How ugly was it?" She asked tentatively.

"Not too bad. They glared at each other a lot." Gaara huffed, folding his arms and thudding back on his chair. "Sorry, for snapping…" he added, regret in his eyes "I'm just-"

"I understand- woah!" Temari giggled as her mobile started to ring, picking it up; it was Kankuro; "Yeah?"

"I got the job." He said simply, "-and I think your boyfriend's about to lose his…"

Temari sat up straighter, brushing her hair behind her ear "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have hours that are disturbingly similar to his." Temari couldn't pretend she didn't see that one coming. Shikamaru was ridiculously lazy- their boss was probably sick of him.

She grinned despite the pseudo bad news, "I dunno. Congrats!" she said, "Say hi to your brother" she made to hand the phone to Gaara, but Gaara refused it, shaking his head stubbornly. "Come on, sweetie, its Kankuro…"

Gaara shook his head again; eyes focused somewhere above Temari; "No."

Temari brought the phone back to her own ear. "Gotta go." She said to Kankuro calmly, hanging up and turning to Gaara, who was breathing heavily, staring at the ceiling.

"Gaara- you with me?" she asked softly, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

He nodded- and she felt a minor relief, having been expecting an angry outburst. Gaara was blinking fast… crying. Temari's relief came crashing down around her and she shakily scooped him up in a cuddle. "You're okay. Shhh. I'm here."

Gaara didn't return or reject her hug, instead, he sat completely still and mumbled something in response that sounded like "-want to go home… so tired…"

"I know, I know. Soon…"

Just how soon was announced to them barely half an hour later…

"He'd be right to leave next Tuesday. With regular check ups. We think things would be less stressful for him in a home environment now." The nurse informed them gruffly, for someone who should really have been sweet and caring, she was very no-nonsense. But Gaara seemed to like her approach. "No school for a while, though. Socializing is good, so long as it's not overwhelming. I'll be checking in on you. Keep it up with your medicine."

Temari nodded, grinning ecstatically. Gaara didn't move his gaze from the nurse's face. Something like respect in his gaze. "Thank you, Tsunade…" he said softly.

The (rather busty, Temari noticed with a shudder) woman grunted in reply "You're a good kid." She said almost-reluctantly "I'm sure you'll be fine." She left, Temari thinking she had to be one of the strangest nurses she'd ever met.

"Her breasts are terrifying. But not as terrifying as her social skills." Gaara commented frankly. Temari burst out laughing.

"Kankuro watch it!"

Temari heaved a sigh as the tinkle of glass could be heard over the softly playing jukebox. Kankuro was her baby brother. She was so protective of him. She was so proud of him for finally getting his act together. She loved him more than anything. She couldn't imagine life without him. She would gladly die to defend him.

…she was about to strangle him…

… And Monday nights weren't even busy…

"Shit!" Kankuro, in a flustered attempt to dispose of the glass, had cut his hand open. Temari fixed the mess while he was gingerly picking out the scrap of glass still inside the cut, then she snatched up the squawking Kankuro's hand and dragged him over to the sink.

She ran the cut under the cool water while searching blindly under the counter with her other hand for the first aid kit, ignoring her boss' faint call of "That's coming out of your pay!"

"Kid, relax." Jiraiya called from his usual spot, looking up from his current writing material, "You're almost as bad as she was."

Kankuro laughed nervously, wary of the older man, Temari rolled her eyes "I was nothing like this!"

"You're right. As I recall, you didn't break anything-… except one of the customers' noses."

"He touched my butt, okay!" She argued, Kankuro laughed again.

Jiraiya grinned, "Your sister's one lady I wouldn't want to mess with."

"When we were little… she used to tell Gaara that if he didn't eat his vegetables, then ninja would kill him in his sleep. Come to think of it… that could be where his insomnia originates from…"

"That's not where his insomnia originates from." She snipped.

"I'm just saying… Gaara's psychiatrist would have a field day with- hello…"

Temari suppressed a laugh as Shikamaru entered the bar, both he and Kankuro looking warily at one another, then at Jiraiya. Jiraiya glanced at them both, and grinned at her. Ah, the wonderful men in my life. She thought, grinning back, if Gaara were here, they could be the world's most disastrous quartet…

"Hey." Shikamaru answered unenthusiastically, "I slept in…"

"It's five in the evening!" she exclaimed,

"Yeah, well…" Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably, he wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Everything okay, Shikamaru?" Temari asked cautiously and instantly suspicious of the way he was avoiding eye contact.

"It's fine- leave it" he answered under his breath as the first customers (Temari no longer counted Jiraiya as a customer, he was practically a tenant) entered. She took his word, figuring if it were something major, that her boyfriend would surely respect her enough to let her know about it, and that it was probably not worth stressing over, though he had been acting more and more distant of late. Kankuro on the other hand, stared at Shikamaru for a few more moments while Temari bandaged his hand. Then fetched the customers, a silver-haired man wearing a mask over all of his face save for his mismatched eyes and a bowl-cut wearing, green-clad, disturbingly shiny and exuberant man (you got all sorts in Suna) their drinks, still staring oddly at Shikamaru. Shikamaru ignored him for the most part, though Temari knew he was well aware he was being watched. She wanted to tell Kankuro to knock it off right then and there, but was nervous about bringing attention to the obvious tension between everyone in the room.

Jiraiya, she knew, was watching both boys warily, but was chatting absently to one of the new customers, who turned out to be a huge fan of Jiraiya's works and was interrogating him about when he would be releasing a new novel. Jiraiya kept waving off the man's questions with an unenthusiastic "Need to do some more research for the new one…"

Temari sighed and thought she may well burst into tears before the end of the night. Forget the fact she hadn't cried since she was about twelve… the amount of dislike coursing between the younger two men was about to break her personal record… she took Kankuro's arm when he'd finished serving Jiraiya and his fan and the fan's friend another drink. "C'mere." She mumbled, pulling him into the office at the back of the building, her boss, a stout, balding man in his forties glared at her with all his might- his gaze had about as much effect as a small kitten's, so he was ignored for the most part… he wouldn't fire her anyway, he was too afraid of her.

"Can you lay off Shikamaru, please?"

"Can you leave my office, please?" the boss called to her. She gave him a 'Just a minute' sign.

"He's a-"

"I don't want to hear what he is. Just knock it off. Okay?!"

"You deserve so much better than him!"

Temari's faint laugh was echoed by that of their boss- the glare that she directed at him was much more effective than his own, "We'll be out soon. No, Kankuro, I really don't… and it's my decision. Leave him, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

"I want my office back now…"

Temari grabbed Kankuro by the collar as though it was all his fault they were in there, "Sorry." She apologized.

"Where is he now?" she wondered aloud as they re-entered the bar

Jiraiya gave her an extremely saddened, yet somehow triumphant look, "Don't look now, love. But your boyfriend and his little piece on the side are just over there", he nodded in their direction.

Temari turned in slow-motion toward the spot that Jiraiya indicated: outside the door stood Shikamaru in a tight embrace with a skinny blonde girl in purple. Temari could hardly tell where one ended and the other began. A humiliated blush swept across her cheeks as quickly and surely as white-hot rage rose in her gut. Not simply because Shikamaru was cheating, but also because the lazy fuck had never once held her like that…

She wanted to scream and cry and throw things. She wanted to tell Jiraiya to let go of an outraged and struggling Kankuro's arm and let him have a decent shot at the bastard… no, she wanted to punch the snot out of him herself. But she didn't. Instead, she sighed and walked through the door of the bar, tapped the tiny blonde on the shoulder (neither of them had noticed her in their 'passion'- whatever that was) and, when the girl turned to Temari in terror, she hugged her.

"Thank you so… so much!" she laughed, and walked back inside. Shikamaru stared after her, gaping. "He's your problem now, sweetheart!" she called over her shoulder.

Every customer in the pub applauded her as she entered, the green-clad one even standing and giving her a very theatrical thumbs up- Temari grinned at them.

Six hours later, Temari decided to take her time locking the front door of their apartment behind herself and her brother- just in case. Checking it and double checking all the locks, keeping her face from view; she was perfectly fine, of course, just a little tired, and judging by the way her eyes kept watering, and her throat felt a little constricted; she was coming down with a cold. Satisfied with her lock-checking, she wandered slowly into the kitchen; she felt very tired for some reason, this was unusual. Even for a late working night. She swallowed a yawn, gods, her throat felt strange. Kankuro eyed her from his spot on the couch. She could sense his steady gaze on the back of her head.

"Do you want a drink?" she mumbled, staring out the kitchen window. She didn't feel like meeting his eyes.

"Temari…"

"Do you want a drink?" she asked a little louder, her tone was far harsher than she had intended.

He stood up, walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to tug her back to the couch. "Come on; sit down."

Temari really didn't feel like sitting down just then. She felt more like punching Kankuro for being so 'caring'- whatever that was... "No, don't feel like it." she pushed him away 'I think I'll go to bed…' she started to walk towards their room; she was fine, of course, just tired. Before she could stalk off to her room and sleep; Kankuro pulled her back and hugged her. It was the last thing she wanted to happen; but perhaps, she thought later, the thing she needed most. I have a record to uphold, she thought stubbornly, a record she'd held since the age of about twelve… some lazy, insensitive, cheating bastard wasn't going to break that record; she was too proud of it. She was too proud, full stop. Somewhere, subconsciously, she knew that Shikamaru was only a small portion of what was making her feel so put-out- but she had thought that if she didn't acknowledge the fact she should be upset, then she would be alright, she would just keep going… but now…

…now…

Her hands fisted into Kankuro's shirt as she began to cry…